Music and dance group Te Vaka and multi-talented Vince Harder have taken out the top accolades at the 12th annual Vodafone Pacific Music Awards.

Te Vaka secured both the Best Song and Best Album awards, while Vince Harder took home three awards – for NZ Music Commission Best Pacific Male Artist, Auckland Council Best Pacific Urban Artist and MAINZ Best Producer – showcasing the diversity of his abilities.

Te Vaka won the APRA Best Pacific Song award for ‘Papua I Sisifo’, written by band member Opetaia Foa’i. The group also took out the Recorded Music NZ Best Pacific Music Album for ‘Amataga’, its 8th collection of songs released in late 2015.

Te Vaka has toured the world and performed at important global occasions including America’s Cup events in Auckland, the Commonwealth games in Melbourne, the Rugby World Cup in Paris and the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Vince Harder has won the NZ Music Commission Best Pacific Male Artist and the NIU FM Best Pacific Urban Artist awards for his album ‘Rare Vision’ and the MAINZ Best Producer category, for ‘Rare Vision’ and the song ‘Start Again’ which he co-wrote with Stan Walker.

Vince has enjoyed widespread mainstream success including topping the NZ Singles Chart with ‘Everything’, a collaboration with fellow artist P-Money.

Pacific Underground were also recognised with the Manukau Institute of Technology Lifetime Achievement Award for their continuous commitment to Pacific Music.